Hoax calls to Cleveland Fire Brigade have been slashed and deaths and injuries are down, according to the latest Government figures.

The Office of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced a drop from 1,757 malicious false alarms in 2001 to 1,568 in the following year.

The number of false alarms - including those made in good faith - is also down, from 5,633 to 5,495 over the same period.

Tragically, two deaths occurred in Teesside in 2002 but this was two fewer than 2001.

Casualties from accidental house fires were slashed from more than 80 to 19.

Cleveland Fire Brigade group manager Riasat Khaliq said: "There was a massive reduction in hoax calls - partly due to our control room staff challenging the caller when they suspect a hoax.

"But it is also thanks to the phone companies. BT can jam a line open so we can go round to the house it was made from and confront the user. If they deny it we just ask them to pick the phone up and the operator is on the other end.

"Mobile phone companies disconnect anyone who makes a hoax call and we have homed in on people making hoax calls from kiosks using the CCTV system."

Firefighters on Teesside dealt with a total of 9,393 fires in 2002 - 889 involved houses, 75 were industrial premises and there were 1,817 vehicle fires.

The County Durham equivalents were 5,987, 569, 34 and 1,000.

In North Yorkshire there were 3,803 fires, 524 involved houses, 50 industrial premises and 1,044 vehicles.